Portable computing devices, for example Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) that include GPS (Global Positioning System) signal reception and processing functionality are well known and are widely employed as in-car or other vehicle navigation systems, either as devices that are permanently mounted in the vehicle or as devices that can be removed from the vehicle.
In general terms, a modern PND comprises a processor, memory (at least one of volatile and non-volatile, and commonly both), and map data stored within said memory. The processor and memory cooperate to provide an execution environment in which a software operating system may be established, and additionally it is commonplace for one or more additional software programs to be provided to enable the functionality of the PND to be controlled, and to provide various other functions.
Typically these devices further comprise one or more input interfaces that allow a user to interact with and control the device, and one or more output interfaces by means of which information may be relayed to the user. Illustrative examples of output interfaces include a visual display and a speaker for audible output. Illustrative examples of input interfaces include one or more physical buttons to control on/off operation or other features of the device (which buttons need not necessarily be on the device itself but could be on a steering wheel if the device is built into a vehicle), and a microphone for detecting user speech. In one particular arrangement, the output interface display may be configured as a touch sensitive display (by means of a touch sensitive overlay or otherwise) additionally to provide an input interface by means of which a user can operate the device by touch.
Devices of this type will also often include one or more physical connector interfaces by means of which power and optionally data signals can be transmitted to and received from the device, and optionally one or more wireless transmitters/receivers to allow communication over cellular telecommunications and other signal and data networks, for example Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, GSM, UMTS and the like.
PNDs of this type also include a GPS antenna by means of which satellite-broadcast signals, including location data, can be received and subsequently processed to determine a current location of the device.
The PND may also include electronic gyroscopes and accelerometers which produce signals that can be processed to determine the current angular and linear acceleration, and in turn, and in conjunction with location information derived from the GPS signal, velocity and relative displacement of the device and thus the vehicle in which it is mounted. Typically, such features are most commonly provided in in-vehicle navigation systems, but may also be provided in PNDs if it is expedient to do so.
The utility of such PNDs is manifested primarily in their ability to determine a route between a first location (typically a start or current location) and a second location (typically a destination). These locations can be input by a user of the device, by any of a wide variety of different methods, for example by postcode, street name and house number, previously stored “well known” destinations (such as famous locations, municipal locations (such as sports grounds or swimming baths) or other points of interest), and favourite or recently visited destinations.
Typically, the PND is enabled by software for computing a “best” or “optimum” route between the start and destination address locations from the map data. A “best” or “optimum” route is determined on the basis of predetermined criteria and need not necessarily be the fastest or shortest route. The selection of the route along which to guide the driver can be very sophisticated, and the selected route may take into account existing, predicted and dynamically and/or wirelessly received traffic and road information, historical information about road speeds, and the driver's own preferences for the factors determining road choice (for example the driver may specify that the route should not include motorways or toll roads).
In addition, the device may continually monitor road and traffic conditions, and offer to or choose to change the route over which the remainder of the journey is to be made due to changed conditions. Real time traffic monitoring systems, based on various technologies (e.g. mobile phone data exchanges, fixed cameras, GPS fleet tracking) are being used to identify traffic delays and to feed the information into notification systems.
PNDs of this type may typically be mounted on the dashboard or windscreen of a vehicle, but may also be formed as part of an on-board computer of the vehicle radio or indeed as part of the control system of the vehicle itself. The navigation device may also be part of a hand-held system, such as a PDA (Portable Digital Assistant), a media player, a mobile phone or the like, and in these cases, the normal functionality of the hand-held system is extended by means of the installation of software on the device to perform both route calculation and navigation along a calculated route.
Route planning and navigation functionality may also be provided by a desktop or mobile computing resource running appropriate software. For example, the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) provides an on-line route planning and navigation facility at http://www.rac.co.uk, which facility allows a user to enter a start point and a destination whereupon the server with which the user's computing resource is communicating calculates a route (aspects of which may be user specified), generates a map, and generates a set of exhaustive navigation instructions for guiding the user from the selected start point to the selected destination. The facility also provides for pseudo three-dimensional rendering of a calculated route, and route preview functionality which simulates a user travelling along the route and thereby provides the user with a preview of the calculated route.
In the context of a PND, once a route has been calculated, the user interacts with the navigation device to select the desired calculated route, optionally from a list of proposed routes. Optionally, the user may intervene in, or guide the route selection process, for example by specifying that certain routes, roads, locations or criteria are to be avoided or are mandatory for a particular journey. The route calculation aspect of the PND forms one primary function, and navigation along such a route is another primary function.
During navigation along a calculated route, it is usual for such PNDs to provide visual and/or audible instructions to guide the user along a chosen route to the end of that route, i.e. the desired destination. It is also usual for PNDs to display map information on-screen during the navigation, such information regularly being updated on-screen so that the map information displayed is representative of the current location of the device, and thus of the user or user's vehicle if the device is being used for in-vehicle navigation.
An icon displayed on-screen typically denotes the current device location, and is centred with the map information of current and surrounding roads in the vicinity of the current device location and other map features also being displayed. Additionally, navigation information may be displayed, optionally in a status bar above, below or to one side of the displayed map information, examples of navigation information include a distance to the next deviation from the current road required to be taken by the user, the nature of that deviation possibly being represented by a further icon suggestive of the particular type of deviation, for example a left or right turn. The navigation function also determines the content, duration and timing of audible instructions by means of which the user can be guided along the route. As can be appreciated a simple instruction such as “turn left in 100 m” requires significant processing and analysis. As previously mentioned, user interaction with the device may be by a touch screen, or additionally or alternately by steering column mounted remote control, by voice activation or by any other suitable method.
A further important function provided by the device is automatic route re-calculation in the event that: a user deviates from the previously calculated route during navigation (either by accident or intentionally); real-time traffic conditions dictate that an alternative route would be more expedient and the device is suitably enabled to recognize such conditions automatically, or if a user actively causes the device to perform route re-calculation for any reason.
It is also known to allow a route to be calculated with user defined criteria; for example, the user may prefer a scenic route to be calculated by the device, or may wish to avoid any roads on which traffic congestion is likely, expected or currently prevailing. The device software would then calculate various routes and weigh more favourably those that include along their route the highest number of points of interest (known as POIs) tagged as being for example of scenic beauty, or, using stored information indicative of prevailing traffic conditions on particular roads, order the calculated routes in terms of a level of likely congestion or delay on account thereof. Other POI-based and traffic information-based route calculation and navigation criteria are also possible.
Although the route calculation and navigation functions are fundamental to the overall utility of PNDs, it is possible to use the device purely for information display, or “free-driving”, in which only map information relevant to the current device location is displayed, and in which no route has been calculated and no navigation is currently being performed by the device. Such a mode of operation is often applicable when the user already knows the route along which it is desired to travel and does not require navigation assistance.
Devices of the type described above, for example the Go 720 model manufactured and supplied by TomTom International B.V., provide a reliable means for enabling users to navigate from one position to another. Such devices are of great utility when the user is not familiar with the route to the destination to which they are navigating.
With devices of this type, as aforementioned, it is possible for a user to opt to input a start location and a destination location, whereupon the device can be controlled to compute a navigation route from the start location to the destination location and ultimately be operated to provide the user with navigation instructions as they travel along the computed route from the start location to the destination.
As some users can find it difficult to react in time to navigation instructions provided along the route, particularly in circumstances where the user is distracted by traffic, it is commonplace for such devices to provide the user with the ability to preview a computed route—the intention being that once a route has been previewed navigation instructions provided to the user along the route will not be a complete surprise to the user (because the user has already viewed those instructions) and hence the user may be better able to correctly follow the provided navigation instructions.
A variety of different route preview configurations have previously been proposed. For example, the aforementioned TomTom Go 720 navigation device provides users with the option, inter alia, to preview a route as text, as a collection of discrete junction images or as a video of the entire route.
FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a textual preview of a computed route that commences at Village Way, London and shows (from left to right) the distances between turnings, an icon representing the type of turn, and the name of the road into which the route passes once the turn has been made.
FIGS. 7a and 7b are schematic representations of elements of the same route as viewed using the junction image preview functionality. The screenshot shown in FIG. 7a corresponds to the first turning (into Burbage Road) shown in FIG. 6, and the screenshot shown in FIG. 7b corresponds to the next turning (into College Road) shown in FIG. 6. As shown, the static junction images are overlaid with the route 288 to be followed and an arrow 290 indicating the form of the manoeuvre that needs to be undertaken at each junction.
This route preview functionality provides the user with discrete rendered images of the junctions that make up the computed route, and the user can scroll back and forth between junction images by operating virtual scroll keys 292.
Whilst each of these techniques do provide the user with the ability to preview the computed route, only route junctions are shown and as such it is difficult for the user to easily appreciate distances between junctions.
To address this drawback it is also known to provide the user with the ability to view a video of the route, namely a series of rendered images displaying every part of the route and comprising in effect an ordered preview of all the static images that would be generated by the navigation device in the course of guiding a user along the route. FIG. 8b is a schematic illustration of one static image that makes up the video showing the route 288 to be followed overlaid with an arrow 290 indicating the type of the next manoeuvre, and an icon 294 (in effect a virtual vehicle) indicating the position of the vehicle on the route.
In this known arrangement the speed with which the virtual vehicle moves along the route in this video preview mode is adjusted so that, for example, the vehicle moves more quickly along highways than it does along suburban city streets, and so that the vehicle slows for junctions and manoeuvres. It is also known to provide the user, as shown in FIG. 8a, with the possibility of adjusting the speed at which the video is replayed from a 10% of normal speed to a 500% of normal speed by moving a slider 296 to the right to increase the display speed and to the left to reduce it.
Whilst this known functionality does greatly improve upon the display of a list of manoeuvres or a series of discrete static junction images, it is the case that for longer journeys it can take a considerable amount of time to preview the entire route and many users will not have the patience to watch, for example, a thirty minute video for a trip that would take actually take two hours to complete.
The user can, of course, speed up video replay, but as increasing the display speed of the video also increases the speed at which manoeuvres are undertaken, it can be difficult at higher display speeds to appreciate exactly what manoeuvre is required at any given junction. The solution to this problem would be to slow the video down, but in this instance it would take significantly longer to preview the entire route.
The combination of these factors can mean that users tend not to use the route preview functionality that is currently provided, and as that functionality can help users to familiarise themselves with the route and navigate safely it would be useful if alternative preview functionality could be proposed that avoided or at least addressed these drawbacks.